POINT BLUE CONSERVATION SCIENCE RESEARCH PROJECT
IDENTIFICATION AND ECOLOGY OF WINTER POPULATIONS ARTEMISOSPIZA SPP.
IN THE MOJAVE AND SONORAN DESERTS OF ARIZONA AND CALIFORNIA
BACKGROUND
The American Ornithologists’ Union has split the former Sage Sparrow (Amphispiza belli) into two new
taxa, Bell’s Sparrow (Artemisiospiza belli) and Sagebrush Sparrow (A. nevadensis), for inclusion into the
Checklist of North American Birds (Chesser et al. 2013). Sagebrush Sparrow occupies the Great Basin and
East Mojave Desert part of the former Sage Sparrow breeding range, while Bell’s Sparrow breeds in the
California Coastal Ranges, San Joaquin Valley and the West Mojave Desert in California. Populations of
A. b. canescens from the San Joaquin Valley and western Mojave Desert differ in morphology and
ecology from A. b. belli and may represent a third distinct species (Chesser et al. 2013).
In the Great Basin Ecoregion, north of the Sonoran Joint Venture geographic coverage, Sagebrush
Sparrow is particularly important as an indicator species of rangeland health for Federal public lands.
There, the US Forest Service lists it as a sensitive species. Until now, however, little attention has
focused on the Artemisiospiza winter populations and habitats and potential conservation concerns.
Both currently named species overwinter in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of southeastern California
and southwestern Arizona (Chesser et al. 2013).
Information about the winter range for all Artemisospiza taxa is a significant gap for managing their
entire life cycle of these species effectively. The extent of overlap, proportions of the two species
populations in the zone of winter range overlap, and differences in winter habitat requirements for the
taxa remain unknown (Rosenberg et al. 1991). This Point Blue Conservation Science Research Project
addresses issues bearing on managing Artemisiospiza spp. winter populations in Arizona and California.
This Project consists of four studies: clarification of the morphological features to distinguish
Artemisiospiza taxa in the field; winter distributions of recognized taxa; winter habitat preferences of
each taxa; and geographic correlation between locations of winter populations to their nesting sites.
STUDY PROPOSAL: Validation of Morphological and Plumage Features to Distinguish Artemisiospiza
Taxa in the Field
Point Blue Conservation Science is conducting this study to validate the feasibility of using previously
proposed morphological and plumage features of Artemisiospiza spp. for taxonomic application in field
studies. Ornithologists are finding that the two species are difficult to distinguish in natural settings as
reliable field marks have not been definitively established (Johnson and Marten 1992; Pyle 1997; Patten
and Unitt 2002; Cicero and Johnson 2006). Ecological studies will remain infeasible until questions of
identification among the specific and sub-specific taxa can be resolved. Target netting at all sites will be
timed within a two-week period to ensure that plumage conditions of birds are comparable. Completion
of this study will facilitate carrying out the other three studies associated with the Point Blue
Conservation Artemisiospiza Project.
Point Blue scientists and volunteers will use target netting techniques employed to capture nonterritorial, wintering sparrows (Cox et al. 2010; J Ruth, pers. comm.). Each netted Artemisiospiza spp.
will be photographed, a minute blood sample taken for sexing individual birds, a partial clipped feather
taken for future analysis of isotopic markers (Knick 2014), and field measurements of proposed features
of morphology (Johnson and Marten 1992) and plumage (Pyle 1997, Pyle unpublished 2013) will be
recorded. Refer to Table 1 for the list of features measured quantitatively.
Table 1 – Artemisiospiza morphological and plumage traits under consideration
Morphology
Body: Mass
Plumage Features
Back: Extent of black streaking
Back: Sharpness of black streaking
Head / Back: Color contrast
Malar Streak: Sharpness of contrast with surrounding plumage
Malar Streak: Size (length and width)
Tail: Length
Wing: Length
Field sampling will follow an east-west gradient from Maricopa, La Paz, and Mohave counties in Arizona
and the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area and the North Algodones Dunes Wilderness in eastern
Imperial County, California. Blood samples from a subset of birds will verify the sex of Artemisiospiza
individuals that fall into the small zone of morphological overlap between female A. nevadensis and
male A. b. canescens. Dr. Adrienne Kovach at the University of New Hampshire will analyze
approximately 50 blood samples to determine the sex of birds.
Once viable plumage traits are identified for genetically identified species and subspecies, traits will be
assessed with a separate sample of Artemisiospiza spp. field observations for the utility for species
identification a) in the hand, b) at distance, and c) in different lighting conditions. PRBO scientists and
volunteers will subsequently revisit long-term winter point count locations established at the Imperial
County sites in the early 2000s to re-census co-occurring wintering Artemisiospiza spp. and other
Emberizidae for long-term population trend data and practice in distinguishing Artemisiospiza spp. in a
practical monitoring setting.
This study will result in a peer-reviewed article to appear in a North American ornithological journal. All
birds’ measurements and capture data will be reported to the Avian Knowledge Network via the
California Avian Data Center (CADC) and to the Bird Banding Lab (BBL).
PROJECT OUTREACH POTENTIAL
This project is of timely interest to many bird watchers due to the relatively unresolved status of
Sagebrush/Bell’s Sparrow field identification. Point Blue has managed to recruit many Arizona
volunteers for its winter 2014 banding activities funded via Arizona Field Ornithologists. That we have
accomplished this with a very limited budget and that volunteers are offering to assist field work with a
relatively common set of species and in habitats that typically attract low volunteer turnout is a
testament to the relevance of our subject. With more time and experience we believe we will be able to
recruit an even greater number of volunteers by fall 2014. These volunteers are necessary and valuable
to the Project, as it is easier to herd birds toward nets with more people.
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
Point Blue has contacted Pronatura Noroeste (Osvel Hinojosa-Huerta) as we hope to add captures from
northern Sonora and Baja California-Norte in our sample. Dr. Hinojosa-Huerta has written to us that his
workers will have their hands fairly full with scheduled pulse flows. Given this, we are unsure how we
might be otherwise able to add captures from this region into our sample, though we will continue to
explore ways to add birds from northern Sonora/BCN to the study.
STUDY SITES
BIRD BANDING LAB PERMIT
Attached in separate document as pdf file.
BUDGET
Cost Item
Unit
Unit
Amount
Cost per Unit
SJV Request
$
$ 6,138.00
In Kind Contribution
Labor and Benefits
Christopher McCreedy
Month
1
6,138.00
Volunteer Effort (see below)
Equipment
$
5,000.00
648.00
6-m Mist Nets
Net
8
$
81.00
$
-
$
9-m Mist Nets
Net
4
$
103.00
$
-
$
412.00
Net Pole Sets
Set
Kit
8
$
192.00
$
-
$
1,536.00
1
$
1,500.00
$
-
$
1,500.00
Blood Analysis
Sample
80
$
50.00
$
-
$
4,000.00
Camera
Camera
1
$
600.00
$
-
$
600.00
Set
1
-
$
500.00
2,200
500.00
0.56
$
Mile
$
$
$
500.00
$
14,696.00
Banding Kit
Office Supplies
Travel
$ 1,232.00
Indirect Costs
Point Blue Overhead - 35%
$ 2,579.50
$ 9,949.50
Match Sources:
Arizona Field
Ornithologists
Amount
$
2,000.00
In Kind
BLM California (See
below)
$
14,696.00
In Kind
$
15,000.00
Cash
TOTAL MATCH
$
31,696.00
Volunteer Effort
This is an estimate based on our experience with our AZFO-funded effort in February 2014. We have recruited a banding/
Cash
bleeding volunteer for 2 weeks - this person would be a $2500/month hire had we possessed the resources to pay them.
In addition, between travel costs and time of our estimated 10-20 volunteers, we feel that $5,000 is an appropriate yet
conservative estimate of what it cost to actually pay for the travel and time of this many people to help capture sparrows
Several volunteers have offered to not just volunteer for one day but several days, traveling with us from site to site.
BLM California
The BLM California and Point Blue Conservation Science are submitting a proposal to the NLCS Research Support
program in February 2014 to add additional CA sites in Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Kern Counties. We
are still working on developing the proposal. We will include winter surveys of points surveyed in the 2000s during
the winter season. Most of this funding will be dedicated to salary (McCreedy and 1 assistant) and travel.
ARIZONA SC PERMIT
LITERATURE CITED
Chesser, RT; Banks, RC; Barker, FK; Cicero, C; Dunn, JL. 2013. Fifty-fourth supplement to the American
Ornithologists’ Union check-list of North American birds. The Auk 130(3): 1-14.
Cicero, C; Johnson, NK. 2006. Diagnosibility of subspecies: lessons from Sage Sparrows (Amphispiza belli)
for analysis of geographic variation in birds. The Auk 123(1): 266-274.
Cox, JA; Jones, CD; Terhune, TM. 2009. Random target netting: field methods for conducting markrecapture studies on focal species. North American Bird Bander, Oct – Dec: 165-170
Holmes, JA; Johnson, MJ. 2005. Sage Sparrow (Amphispiza belli): a technical conservation assessment.
Missoula, MT: USDA Forest Service. 53 pp. Available online at:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/projects/scp/assessments/sagesparrow.pdf
Johnson, NK; Marten, JA. 1992. Macrogeographic patterns of morphometric and genetic variation in the
Sage Sparrow complex. Condor 94(1): 1-19.
Knick, ST; Leu M.; Rotenberry, JT; Hanser, SE; Fesenmyer, KA. 2014. Diffuse migratory connectivity in
two species of shrubland birds: evidence from stable isotopes. Oecologia 174(2): 595-608.
Patten, MA; Unitt, P. 2002. Diagnosibility versus mean differences of Sage Sparrow subspecies. TheAuk
119(1): 26-35.
Pyle, P. 1997. Identification guide to North American birds, part 1. Bolinas, CA: Slate Creek Press.
Rosenberg, KV; Ohmart, RD; Hunter, WC; Anderson, BW. 1991. Birds of the Lower Colorado River Valley.
Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. 416 pp.
TIMELINE




Winter 2014. Target netting Arizona sites over a two week period
Winter 2014. Analysis, report to AZFO, CADC, BBL
Fall 2014- Winter 2015. Target netting at California sites and repeat target netting at Arizona
sites
Winter 2015. Analysis, report to SJV, CADC, BBL
LETTERS OF SUPPORT
Arizona Department of Game and Fish
BLM California State Office
Tucson Audubon Society